True Bearing
Pensions Advice and Retirement Planning
The prospect of spending both time and money on your retirement planning over decades makes it vital to seek reputable, professional advice. At True Bearing, we understand just how crucial good financial planning and pensions advice is to ensuring that you enjoy the retirement you've dreamed of leading - which is about more than money alone.
Our Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) recognise your unique goals and are committed to making sure that your pension and investments work as hard for you as you have to accumulate them.
Our highly qualified pensions advisers will review all of your current retirement provisions, including pensions and investments, for suitability, before creating a detailed financial plan reflecting your personal goals and means. We are dedicated to keeping you on track to achieve these goals, and will provide an ongoing service to maximise and protect your wealth via regular meetings.
Holding both CII Chartered status and the Pension Transfer Gold Standard, we are one of the top independent financial advisory firms by qualification in the UK, and ideally equipped to give you the independent, objective and well-informed pensions advice you will need to achieve peace of mind in your retirement planning.
Our advisers deliver a wealth of experience helping to turn our clients' dreams into reality. To start your retirement planning journey with True Bearing, please contact us today and arrange a face to face or virtual appointment at no expense to you.
Give us a call on 01257 260011, or fill out our contact form on this page.

Our Services
The retirement and pensions specialists at True Bearing offer highly qualified advice tailored to your specific needs and circumstances to create a plan that aligns with your life goals.
We can advise you on the following types of pension plans, with regard to their suitability, performance, charges and options available:
- Personal Pensions
- Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs)
- Small Self-Administered Schemes (SSAS)
- Executive Pensions Plans (EPPs)
- Workplace and Stakeholder Pensions
We have experience working with clients from a wide range of financial backgrounds and with varied retirement goals. No matter what your circumstances may be, we can provide you with financial advice that will help you get the very most out of your retirement planning over a long-term period.
This guidance will make use of cashflow modelling to illustrate the sustainability of your income and assets, which many clients find reassuring when determining whether their ideal lifestyle is currently affordable, or if proactive planning might be needed.
How True Bearing Can Help You
At True Bearing, we have a different ethos to other Independent Financial Advisory firms, providing trustworthy financial advice tailored to your personal needs. Rather than advising you on a single transaction or short-term ambitions, we are dedicated to working with you on long-term plans that will maximise and then protect the value of your wealth, making a real difference to your life and retirement.
No matter what approach you wish to take with your pension planning, you can always place your full trust in True Bearing. As a Chartered Financial Planning firm, we rank among the top 15% of independent financial advisory firms by qualifications in the UK, according to the CII. We have numerous awards and accreditations to prove this, including the prestigious Pension Transfer Gold Standard.
As a truly independent advisory firm, we can access the whole of the market and find bespoke solutions that will meet your needs specifically. Throughout our journey together, you will have access to a highly qualified IFA and dedicated support staff, all here to provide the services you need, when you need them.
With more than 7,000 clients and a retention rate of over 99%, True Bearing can be your financial planning partner for years to come.

The Pension Transfer Gold Standard: What Does This Mean For You?
The Pension Transfer Gold Standard has been accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and awarded to financial advisory firms who have signed up to a set of principles designed to raise the standard of professionalism within the pension field.
This accreditation is to help consumers recognise good practice, ethical and professional standards when seeking advice on pension transfers. To find out more about the Gold Standard and what you should expect from your independent financial adviser, download our Chartered Insurance Institute Consumer Guide.
Contact us
To find out more about how True Bearing can provide you with pensions advice to support your financial planning, get in touch with us today to arrange a one-to-one introductory session. This meeting will be at our expense, and will give you an opportunity to work out what kind of pension plan will suit you best, based on your goals and circumstances.
Give us a call on 01257 260011 to get started, or fill out our contact form on the side of the page to request a call back at your convenience.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions about Pensions Advice
It is advisable to seek professional pensions advice in the following circumstances:
- You are at retirement and want to know if your pension is correctly invested, and what your options are to access your funds
- You are looking to invest your pension pot to access on a flexible basis for income and/or withdrawals
- You are considering mixing, combining or transferring your pension options
- You are changing employer, becoming self-employed or setting up a business
- You wish to invest surplus income or capital tax efficiently for your future or for a third party
- You are affected by the Annual Allowance or Lifetime Allowance
- You are going through a matrimonial breakdown, and have pension funds that are the subject of divorce proceedings
- You are experiencing adverse health, and require advice on the most suitable way of accessing or distributing your pension funds upon your death
Your financial adviser will be able to assess your needs, financial goals and review your existing arrangements to recommend a financial plan that works for you.
There is no need to wait until you reach the age of retirement to seek advice on your pension. Sound financial planning should generally start as early as possible, and can give you greater clarity on how your retirement will be financed.
If you have a pension scheme in place, you can usually start drawing benefits from the age of 55, much earlier than the current State Pension age of 67. You may be able to access these funds even earlier than this under certain schemes if you are in poor health, or your profession has a lower retirement age than normal.
The questions you ask when speaking to a pensions adviser will naturally depend on personal and financial circumstances. However, you may want to consider the following issues:
- How do I know my pension will support my lifestyle in retirement?
- How much will I receive from my final salary scheme?
- How do income drawdown and flexi-access drawdown (FAD) work?
- How much money can I withdraw from my pension pot each year? What are the charges and risks?
- How do I shop around for an annuity? How can I make sure I am getting the best value for money?
- What rate of tax will I pay on my pension?
- What percentage of my pension can I get tax-free as a lump sum?
- What happens to my pension in the event of ill health or my death?
By considering your needs carefully and asking the right questions, you could receive valuable information from a conversation with your pensions adviser, which may lead to formal advice.
Generally, you can start obtaining access to your pension benefits from age 55, or later depending on the age specified in your particular pension scheme.
However, there are many important considerations relating to your individual situation, objectives and the type of pension, which could be a defined benefit (DB) or a defined contribution (DC) or money purchase pension.
It may be possible to leave the pension funds in situ, continue contributing or withdraw funds at a more suitable time for you.
Since Pension Freedoms were introduced in April 2015, there are now numerous ways to access a pension fund. To receive the best outcome for your needs, qualified independent advice is essential to create an appropriate strategy.
True Bearing is able to provide advice on final salary pensions, often referred to as DB schemes in certain circumstances. This is a highly regulated and complex area of financial planning requiring specialist advice.
For further details and information on the criteria which apply to these schemes, please get in touch with a member of our team.
More in this area
